journalism

MARK GUARINO writes about culture, national news, and all points between.

He is trusted by prominent media outlets to enterprise stories, report with accuracy, and write with clarity to reach a general readership that values stories with depth and insight.

Mark is a contributing writer with THE GUARDIAN where he writes about Americana music. His byline also appears frequently covering national news and culture from Chicago and the greater Midwest for THE WASHINGTON POST. His work also appears in THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, AL JAZEERA AMERICA, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE (AFP), SALON, and CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS. He is a frequent book reviewer and essayist for the Sunday lit magazine in THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE.

Between 2008-2014 he was the Midwest Bureau Chief with THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR where he covered breaking news and analysis out of Chicago for csmonitor.com and the weekly magazine.

His work with THE WASHINGTON POST, THE GUARDIAN, AL JAZEERA, and THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, can be found here, here, here, and here. His work is also archived on this page.

In the past, his work has also appeared in REUTERS, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, MOJO, NEW YORK MAGAZINE, SPIN, JAZZ TIMES, HARP, DOWNBEAT, CHICAGO MAGAZINE, NO DEPRESSION, among others. For a complete list of his writing, see below or click “story archive” above to search the full body of work.

Mark specializes in finding the human connection in major news events, having covered federal trials, national and local elections, disasters, terrorism, hate crimes, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. He is also an astute cultural critic, and writes often about music, visual art and literature.

Besides reviewing books, concerts, and trends in the recording industry, he has spent time in conversation with some of the world’s greatest musical artists, including John Lee Hooker, Ralph Stanley, Bo Diddley, Keith Richards, Lucinda William, Scott Walker, Brian Wilson, Jack White, Paul Westerberg, Kanye West, John Prine, Dr. John, as well as countless up-and-coming artists.

He is a frequent media guest to talk about his work, having appeared on Sirius/XM POTUS Channel 124, National Public Radio (NPR), Geraldo Rivera, Al-Jazeera, WGN-AM, WLS-AM, Russia Today (RT), and other outlets.

Mark also teaches writing in the communications department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.